DEVICE-BASED SOFTWARE AUTHORIZATIONS FOR SOFTWARE ASSET MANAGEMENT

• US 20090031286A1
• Filed: 07/25/2007
• Published: 01/29/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 07/25/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Scullion, Ann Catherine, YEE, John Leong, Alonzo, Jason Aron, Apte, Umesh Madhav
• Granted Patent: US 8,407,669 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/120
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

Software device groups allow owners and administrators to be defined for various intelligent devices, instead of tracking by primary user. A software license compliance management system obtains discovery information for these devices to determine software installed or active on these devices. The management system also obtains the number of licenses for each software package and determines whether the software is in compliance, or if the number of instances exceeds the number of licenses. This determination is flexible and can handle various license types, such as per user, per device, and per processor. For any exception, the group owner is informed and then can re-allocate licenses, purchase additional licenses, or request the uninstalling of a software instance(s). Device groups also can include sub-groups with sub-group owners responsible for handling any exception in that sub-group.

Claims

1. A method for managing software license compliance for an entity, comprising:

defining at least one device group, the device group including a plurality of devices each capable of running an instance of at least one software package and further assigning a group owner responsible for those instances running on those devices;

obtaining discovery information for each of the devices of the device group, the discovery information including information about each device and any software package active on the device;

obtaining asset information indicating the number of licenses available to the device group for each software package;

comparing the discovery information and the asset information to determine any software packages where the number of instances of a software package exceeds the number of licenses for that software package and generating an exception in response thereto; and

notifying the group owner of any generated exception.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein:

notifying the group owner includes at least one of generating a report, generating an alert, and sending a message to the group owner.

3. A method according to claim 2, further comprising:

notifying any user, sub-group owner, or device owner in the device group of an applicable exception.

4. A method according to claim 1, further comprising:

adding at least one sub-group to the device group, each sub-group including at least one device capable of running an instance of the at least one software package and further including a sub-group owner responsible for those instances running on those devices.

5. A method according to claim 4, wherein:

the sub-groups and devices in the device group form a hierarchy of responsibility in the device group.

6. A method according to claim 5, further including:

dynamically adding any device at a bottom level of the hierarchy and manually adding any sub-group at a higher level.

7. A method according to claim 1, further comprising:

allowing the group owner to automatically add at least one of a device, user, and sub-group to the device group.

8. A method according to claim 1, wherein:

defining at least one device group includes dynamically sourcing the group using information from an asset repository.

9. A method according to claim 1, further comprising:

allowing the group owner to allocate available licenses for any exception in order to remove the exception.

10. A method according to claim 1, further comprising:

allowing the group owner to purchase additional licenses and allocate the additional licenses.

11. A method according to claim 1, further comprising:

sending a message to a device owner to uninstall a software instance in the case of an exception.

12. A method according to claim 1, further comprising:

updating an asset repository after comparing the discovery information and the asset information.

13. A system for managing software license compliance for an entity, the system including a processor operable to execute instructions and a data storage medium for storing the instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

define at least one device group, the device group including a plurality of devices each capable of running an instance of at least one software package and further assigning a group owner responsible for those instances running on those devices;

obtain discovery information for each of the devices of the device group, the discovery information including information about each device and any software package active on the device;

obtain asset information indicating the number of licenses available to the device group for each software package;

compare the discovery information and the asset information to determine any software packages where the number of instances of a software package exceeds the number of licenses for that software package and generating an exception in response thereto; and

notify the group owner of any generated exception.

14. A system according to claim 13, wherein the instructions, when Executed by the processor, further cause the processor to:

notify the group owner by at least one of generating a report, generating an alert, and sending a message to the group owner.

15. A system according to claim 13, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, further cause the processor to:

add at least one sub-group to the device group, each sub-group including at least one device capable of running an instance of the at least one software package and further including a sub-group owner responsible for those instances running on those devices.

16. A system according to claim 15, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, further cause the processor to:

dynamically add any device at a bottom level of a hierarchy and allow a user to manually add any sub-group at a higher level of the hierarchy where the sub-groups and devices in the device group form a hierarchy of responsibility in the device group.

17. A system according to claim 13, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, further cause the processor to:

allow the group owner to automatically add at least one of a device, user, and sub-group to the device group.

18. A system according to claim 13, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, further cause the processor to:

allow the group owner to allocate available licenses for any exception in order to remove the exception.

19. A system according to claim 13, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, further cause the processor to:

automatically allocate any available licenses from other sub-groups in the device group in the case of an exception.

20. A computer program product embedded in a computer readable medium for managing software license compliance for an entity, comprising:

program code for defining at least one device group, the device group including a plurality of devices each capable of running an instance of at least one software package and further assigning a group owner responsible for those instances running on those devices;

program code for obtaining discovery information for each of the devices of the device group, the discovery information including information about each device and any software package active on the device;

program code for obtaining asset information indicating the number of licenses available to the device group for each software package;

program code for comparing the discovery information and the asset information to determine any software packages where the number of instances of a software package exceeds the number of licenses for that software package and generating an exception in response thereto; and

program code for notifying the group owner of any generated exception.

21. A computer program product according to claim 20, further comprising:

program code for notifying the group owner by at least one of generating a report, generating an alert, and sending a message to the group owner.

22. A computer program product according to claim 20, further comprising:

program code for adding at least one sub-group to the device group, each sub-group including at least one device capable of running an instance of the at least one software package and further including a sub-group owner responsible for those instances running on those devices.

23. A computer program product according to claim 22, further comprising:

program code for dynamically adding any device at a bottom level of a hierarchy and allow a user to manually add any sub-group at a higher level of the hierarchy where the sub-groups and devices in the device group form a hierarchy of responsibility in the device group.

24. A computer program product according to claim 20, further comprising:

program code for allowing the group owner to automatically add at least one of a device, user, and sub-group to the device group.

25. A computer program product according to claim 20, further comprising:

program code for allowing the group owner to allocate available licenses for any exception in order to remove the exception.

26. A computer program product according to claim 20, further comprising:

program code for automatically allocating any available licenses from other sub-groups in the device group in the case of an exception.